Former Brazil left back Roberto Carlos says he will retire from football by the end of the year.
The 38-year-old Roberto Carlos has a contract with Russian club Anzhi until 2013 but said he will stop playing either in June or in December of 2012.
The ex-Real Madrid player intends to continue 'helping' the Russian club off the field after retiring.
"My contract as a player with Anzhi ends in June 2013," FIFA.com reports the 38-year-old said to Marca. "But in December I have the possibility to stop playing. After that I will carry on in the club as assistant to the chairman Suleyman Kerimov ... He has asked me to help create a structure in the club for the next ten years."
"I am not going because I am injured," he said. "But I am going because my sporting career is already complete. I have been with Palmeiras, Inter, Real Madrid... I have lived everything I had to live as a player."
Roberto Carlos played for Brazil until the 2006 World Cup. He helped the national team win the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan. He was also involved when Brazil was runner-up in 1998.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
